“Problem,” Champ echoed, and I narrowed my eyes. He was doing the repeating thing again. “No! No problem at all. I didn’t realize there’d be such a… a rush, that’s all. I figured you’d wait until Marissa’s wedding was over to plan the next one. I figured there’d be five weeks instead of two.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I told you it usually takes a year to plan a wedding, right? The sooner we get started, the more options they’ll have, especially if they want to get married in the city.”
“Right. You’re right. And, uh… did you call to confirm the appointment? Carter’s a doctor,” he explained. “He has emergencies sometimes.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I called him at home earlier this morning and spoke to his fiancé. I think he said his name was William something—”
“Riggs,” Champ said in a choked voice. “William Riggs.”
“Yeah, that’s it. He seemed surprised but agreed that they’d be here.” I hesitated for a second before admitting, “He didn’t sound very overjoyed, though, to be honest. He muttered something about Kev and… vengeance?”
“Oh, that’s just gamer speak,” Champ explained quickly. He waved a hand. “They’re really into Horn of Glory, and that’s how they talk. I’m sure Riggs will be incredibly overjoyed. So, ah… I’m gonna go.” He hooked his thumb in the direction of the front door. “Gotta make some… phone calls real quick.”
“Are you gonna take your—mmmph.” Champ cut me off with a kiss that was scorching hot and somehow soothing at the same time, like rain after a drought. I gripped his t-shirt with two hands, digging my fingers into his chest, and poured two weeks’ worth of longing and frustration into kissing him back.
He pulled away a minute later to rub his thumb over my bottom lip. “Later.”
“Oh. Okay. Y-yeah,” I agreed, licking my lips and savoring the taste of him. “Thanks for stopping by!”
Thanks for stopping by? What the hell was wrong with me?
The door jangled as he left, and I attempted to pull myself together—or at least to rearrange my dick so my pants lay flat—when I realized that no, he had not taken his damn dog.
I shook my head, even as I grinned at the golden-brown puffball. “Your owner is so weird, buddy. Come on, let’s get ready for this meeting.”
Hercules darted ahead of me to the front room just as the door opened for the third time that morning.
I expected Herc to start barking his head off the way he usually did with strangers, but instead, he walked up to the pair expectantly, almost like he knew them.
Odd. I hadn’t known Champ was that close with Carter.
“Good morning!” I said sunnily. “I’m Quinn Taffet. You must be… Dr. Rogers?” I asked the slightly older and handsomer of the two men. He was blond, like Champ, but wore chinos and a cashmere sweater over a button-down shirt.
“Please, call me Carter.” The man glared at his fiancé and folded his arms over his chest. “At least I assume that’s the name I’ll be using.”
Uh-oh. Clearly they’d been in the middle of a spat on the way over, maybe about changing names after the wedding? No matter. It wouldn’t be the first time I played referee.
“Uh… Great!” I enthused. “Carter.” I turned to the younger, taller, much more muscular of the pair. “And you’re William?”
“William Riggs.” He smiled confidently. “But everyone calls me Riggs.”
“Riggs,” I agreed, thinking that sounded familiar. Didn’t Champ have a teammate named Riggs? Maybe that was how he knew them. “And here you two are, ready to declare your love to the world!”
“That remains to be seen,” Carter muttered under his breath.
Riggs winced.
“Alright, let’s get the hard part out of the way first. I’ll take down the details of your…” I looked around for my tablet and realized I’d left it out back. “Shoot. Actually, let me grab my tablet so we can get down to business. Can I bring y’all some coffee? No? Please have a seat.” I tilted my chin toward the planning table as I scurried away.
The moment I was out of sight, I heard Riggs rumble softly, “Baby, please—”
“Do not ‘baby’ me, Riggs. How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t propose for an op! Asshole.”
Wait… what? I paused in the hallway.
“I didn’t propose!” Riggs insisted. “This was all a… a misunderstanding.”
“No shit.”
“Carter.” Riggs sounded a little desperate. “How many times do I have to apologize? I forgot Champ asked me to do this meeting until Mr. Taffet called this morning to remind me. I couldn’t say no, baby! It’s for Champ. I owe him. And all we have to do is play along, okay? I know the timing wasn’t the greatest, coming after that thing a couple weeks ago—”
“Thing? You hired a bunch of singing fruits and vegetables to accost me and my cousin outside my place of work, Riggs!”